How does using nuclear energy affect the environment

With climate change in everyones mind it should be no surprise to see its small environmental impact at the top of. These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for thousands of years.

The fission of large atoms such as Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239 produces a great deal of energy.

How does using nuclear energy affect the environment. Nuclear energy produces radioactive waste. A major environmental concern related to nuclear power is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings spent used reactor fuel and other radioactive wastes. These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for thousands of years.

Every state and the environment is potentially affected by the possibility of radioactive contamination the spread of toxic substances derived from nuclear energy and the long term health hazards consequent on exposure to radiation1In catastrophic cases the level of injury to individual states and the global environment may be severe. Although nuclear power stations do not emit fly-ash or noxious gases into the atmosphere as fossil-fuel-operated plants do the radioactivity released from the products of nuclear fission has been the main focus of public concern about the expansion in the use of nuclear power despite the stringent control measures and precautions taken. Today we will examine both the pros and cons of nuclear energy.

Advantages of Nuclear Energy. As you may expect a source of energy that has been around for over 60 years must have quite a lot of advantages. With climate change in everyones mind it should be no surprise to see its small environmental impact at the top of.

Nuclear energy is attracting revived interest as a potential alternate for electric power generation in the event of increased concerns about global warming. Compared to energy produced by combustion of a carbon atom in coal fission of a U-235 atom will produce about ten million times more energy. Nuclear generated electricity does not emit carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and is considered a clean energy source compared to energy generated by burning fossil fuels which produce carbon dioxide.

But its not the cleanest of energy sources available because the production of nuclear energy can pose serious threats to the environment. Environmental Impacts The negative impacts of nuclear energy to the environment are mostly experienced in the energy fuel cycle. This involves the extraction process using and releasing the energy into the air.

During extraction the miners of uranium element are mostly affected since they get exposure to some of the radioactive materials. Nuclear energy contributes a very small amount of emissions into the atmosphere which can cause many environmental problems such as global warming. Uranium is not burned in a nuclear power plant as coal is so there are no emissions from it.

Nuclear energy from fission of uranium and plutonium is sustainable because it meets all of the above-mentioned criteria. Todays commercial uranium-fueled nuclear power plants can provide the world with clean economical and reliable energy well into the next century on the basis of the already-identified uranium deposits Furthermore as was pointed out by Enrico Fermi already in the 1940s. Nuclear energy is produced when an atoms nucleus is split into smaller nuclei by the process called fission.

The fission of large atoms such as Uranium 235 and Plutonium 239 produces a great deal of energy. In fact the fission of 1 gram of Uranium 235 produces the same amount of energy as the combustion or burning of 3 tons of coal 1. Nuclear power plants have the potential to negatively affect the water air and soil in the environment through the production of nuclear energy and from the mining of heavy metals such as uranium.

The transportation mining and enrichment of uranium can have a negative affect on the environment by releasing fossil fuel emissions into the air. The United States ranks highest in production of nuclear energy. Nuclear power plants dont emit greenhouse gases and are not easily destroyed by natural calamities.

These generate many jobs and have low operating costs. Accidents can be catastrophic and waste disposal is costly. Its use can have LESS negative effect on the environment which there is no agreement by any reasonable standard of climatology or environmental management as to a measurable standard.

Or it can have significantly MORE if mis-managed.